Red-hot Gagnon, O’Dell power IceCaps to victory
Posted by IceCaps on
March 28, 2013 at 1:32 am

Aaron Gagnon scored twice to lead the St. John’s IceCaps to a 4-2 triumph over the Albany Devils Wednesday night at Times Union Center in Albany, NY.

Gagnon notched shorthanded and power play markers – extending his point streak to a franchise record 11 games – including the game-winner, while Jason Jaffray picked up three points, scoring a goal and adding two assists.

Eric O’Dell had a goal and an assist, finding the back of the net for the sixth consecutive game, also a new club record. Ben Maxwell picked up a pair of assists and was given the nod as the Mary Brown’s Hardest Working Player. Mark Dekanich made 21 saves for his fifth win in his last six starts.

Albany got on the board 4:29 into the opening frame on a power play after a high-sticking minor was assessed to Ben Chiarot. Phil Desimone won the draw to Matt Anderson, who fed Joe Whitney for a one-timer near the top of the right circle and the puck appeared to hit something in front before beating Dekanich to give the Devils a 1-0 lead.

Jaffray got the equalizer midway through the first just after a power play expired. Ben Chiarot got the puck down low to Ray Sawada, who made a nifty spinning backhand pass to Jaffray in the slot. The captain chipped one over Albany goaltender Jeff Frazee’s left shoulder to tie the game at one.

Early in the second towards the tail end of an IceCaps power play, O’Dell scored his 25th to give St. John’s a 2-1 lead. Maxwell took a pass from Jaffray at the left point and wired a shot on goal that was deflected by O’Dell and past Frazee, giving the IceCaps the lead.

Minutes later after Dean Arsene was whistled for a questionable holding call, Jaffray and Gagnon burst in on a two-on-one rush shorthanded. The captain waited until the last moment before slipping a pass across to Gagnon, who tapped the puck into the yawning cage to put his team up 3-1.

Gagnon added his second – this time on the power play – with a bomb from the point at 8:35 of the third. Maxwell put the puck on a tee for Gagnon at the left point, and the hottest IceCap blasted a one-timer past Frazee for a 4-1 IceCaps lead.

Albany cut the lead in half with less than five minutes to play when Brandon Burlon hammered home a rebound past Dekanich but St. John’s shut the door the rest of the way.

The IceCaps travel to Worcester for a Saturday night tilt with the division rival Sharks to conclude their five-game road trip. St. John’s is 3-1-0-0 on the trip thus far.

Catch all the action with broadcaster Brian Rogers at stjohnsicecaps.com and on 930 AM This Is Newfoundland Labrador, or watch online at ahllive.com. Puck drop is set for 8:30 p.m. NT with the pregame show getting underway at 8:00.

Notes:
Aaron Gagnon passed Paul Postma for the longest point streak (11 games) in team history… Eric O’Dell continued to set team records for both the longest goal streak (now at six games) and most goals in a season (now at 25)… St. John’s went 2-for-7 on the power play, its third straight game with multiple goals with the man advantage. The IceCaps killed off 5-of-6 penalties… Ben Maxwell has four points (2G, 2A) in his last two games… The IceCaps finished their season series versus the Devils with a 3-1-0-0 record.